Thursday, January 5, 2012

J-pop group Momoiro Clover get themselves cast in another indie film

by Chris MaGee

We don't normally spend a lot of time reporting on Japanese girl groups, boy groups or pop idols here on The J-Film Pow-Wow. Okay, we hardly ever mention them, but why would we? There are the occasional pop idols who make their way to the big screen in various forgettable films, but they're few and far between. There are the occasional idols that make interesting transitions from J-pop to film though, and few recent examples are as odd and interesting as girl group Momoiro Clover (above).

This sextet of cuties signed to the Stardust Productions talent agency found their way into Koji Shiraishi's 2010 horror mockumentary "Shirome". In that film Shiraishi, who also brought us the banned in the UK "Grotesque", scared the girls half to death with a ghost story about a vengeful white-eyed spirit. It turned out that everyone was in on the joke except for Momoiro Clover, so you'd think they would be wary about getting drawn into another film project. Not so...

Momoiro Clover are appearing in another film, and their appearance is even more incongruous than before. Momoiro Clover star as themselves in indie director Tetsuya Mariko's latest film "Ninifuni". The film, co-written with fellow indie filmmaker Yasutomo Chikuma, takes its inspiration from a real-life case of a young man who kills himself after being involved in a violent robbery. From this true life drama Mariko and Chikuma craft a minimal drama... but one that ends with a performance by Momoiro Clover. Not to give to much away, but the young man ends up on a beach where the girl group is shooting a music video. These girls really do get around the Japanese indie film scene!

"Ninifuni" will get a limited theatrical run at Tokyo's Eurospace theatre in February. Check out the trailer below. Thanks to Eiganavi.entermeitele.net for this.